Present guard tour systems usually require the use of proprietary hardware for the acquisition, storage and communication of data that have been collected. Such hardware devices read and time stamp the data that have been provided from one of many different types of media, such as barcodes, touch buttons, magnetic strips, etc. The data collection, storage and communication devices are often specific to the type of media being read. Analysis and reporting of collected data do not occur until after the guard's tour is finished and the data collection device has been placed into a downloading device permitting communication of the collected data with a computer.
In use, such guard tour systems typically employ one of the aforementioned media types to serve as guard identifiers, checkpoint identifiers and incident identifiers. (As used herein, the term “incident” refers to an occurrence involving a security related condition that is found during the course of a guard tour.) A guard starts a tour by reading his or her identification information with a proprietary device or by keying this identification information into the device if the media type is not appropriate for this use, thus storing the guard's identification information, along with a time stamp in the device's memory. (It should be noted that the guard could read his or her identification information into the proprietary device or by keying this identification information into the device at any time during the tour, rather than at the beginning of the tour, without affecting the operation of the system). While on tour the guard uses the same proprietary device to read and time stamp data at checkpoints positioned at predetermined tour locations. If incidents occur during the guard's tour, the guard again uses the proprietary device to read and time stamp, or key in, if the media type is not appropriate for this use, data that corresponds to each incident. The result is a list of data and time stamp pairs that define the guard's activity during the course of the tour. When the guard finishes the tour, the collected data are transferred or downloaded to a computer, typically by placing the proprietary data collection device in a proprietary downloading device which is connected to the computer. After the data are transferred to the computer, software within the computer performs analysis and reporting of the data.
Because proprietary devices specific to the type of media being utilized are required to collect and communicate guard tour checkpoint data, and the analysis and reporting of collected tour checkpoint data occur only after a tour is finished and the data collection device has been placed into the downloading device, it has become desirable to develop a guard tour system that utilizes commonly available wireless devices, rather than proprietary devices, to collect and communicate checkpoint data relating to a guard tour.